Marseille pictured from the Notre Dame church is a sprawling Mediteranean style town, made up largely of flats. The buildings mostly have pantile roofs and are covered with stucco. There are very few gardens but far from seeming crowded or over developed, the place has a leisurely, relaxed air, except in a very small number of central roads the equivalent of Oxford Street.

Half the churches in the town seem to be called Notre Dame and when we got onto a bus going, as we thought, to Notre Dame, we ended up in a very down at heel, modern council estate. Quite clearly this was not the sort of place tourists were expected to visit and the locals were surprisingly helpful getting us out of the area. A bus going in the opposite direction was stopped and we were put onto it. A strange experience.

Notre Dame is the great landmark, a fabulous church built on top of a hill that commands a view throughout the valley the town covers. However, getting there is more difficult than you might expect.

The old habour is now a marina full of expensive yachts. The average yacht seems to cost more than the average flat in Marseille.